Thursday, June 25, 2015

Water has been our source of inspiration for the past year.
It has quenched our thirst for knowledge, satiated personal and artistic growth,
and created fluid connections with others.

Tuesday was our last Lab of the season. We gathered in our
large group of nearly 30 and began with a nigun
(song) about water, as we often do.Rabbi Davis introduced Proverb 27:19: “As in water the face to the face,
so the heart of man to the man.” We analyzed the Hebrew and English versions,
discussing what this could mean. The group responded, “Water takes the shape of
its vessel, as does the heart.” “Water is the connecting link to all things, as
the heart connects us to one another.” “We can see our self in water's reflection,
as we can reflect love onto our self.”For further discussion, Rabbi Davis & Meryll went on to
share several thoughts from various sources about its meaning (from King James,
JPS, A. Bible, ISV, etc.).

He then raised the question, “How does your artwork
reflect who you are?” It was silent for a while as contemplation set i.
Slowly, we went around and shared our thoughts –for some it was about our
personal work serving as a direct reflection of who we are…..or the essence of
the individual….or a product of where we are and where we want to be.

The follow up question was raised, “Has your experience with
the Lab allowed you to connect with another person in the Lab in a significant
way?” Two people sitting next to each other immediately hugged, two others
caught eyes and smiled, and another raised her hand and shared about her connection
to community.

We were then invited to stand together in silence. We were
guided to flow like water, and at the sound of the bell, stopping and facing
the person next to us while exchanging a moment of silence, together.This lasted several rounds, there were hugs
exchanged, smiles shared and even tears shed. We then gathered hands and danced
and sang shuv-tey-mayim.

After a short break Liba and Yoni introduced us to a
collaborative initiative that each of us would contribute to –a water symphony. Juxtaposed to our recent exercise in
silence, we now gathered around a series of tables to create sounds with interesting vessels filled
with water (wine glasses, tubs, containers, etc.) and a slew of sound making
gadgets (bath toys, sponges, straws, ladles, etc.).We were each asked to choose one gadget and
one vessel with which to create a sound. In complete silence, one by one, we began to
create our individual water sounds, adding to the collaborative symphony.As Liba tapped our shoulders, it was our turn
to stop and just listen as the symphony faded to one last sound of water being
squeeze from a sponge into a large pan. Yoni recorded this symphony, along with
everyone else who had a recording device. We were exhilarated to be part of this two+ minutes of art in the
making. Click here to hear our result.

The last exercise of the day was to create and record a
unique breath, different than the person before you. We went around in a circle
and shared our breath, some calm, others rapid, a few mysterious….

We closed the Lab by offering any last comments or shared
thoughts. The room was overflowing with gratitude and a feeling of
completeness.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

6/16/2015. Lab 2.0 by Paula PergamentLab 2.0 came to a close at Paula Pergament's lakeside home, a fitting conclusion for our theme of water.

Water and stone.

We each took one hand-sized rock from a pile of rocks Joel Carter contributed...We sat on the dock right over the water...contemplating thoughts ...holding our chosen stone.
Joel shared a poem about water.
The rest of us spoke a thought,
a word, a wish, a dream,
a trouble, a pain...
and each of us gave our words and stones 'into the mikvah's water'...

Rani's father's yahrzeit was last night and she chose to honor his memory by placing a stone gently into the lake...

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Is water a memory trigger for you?That was the discussion question for Lab 1.0
during the June 9th session.We analyzed Psalm 137—“By the waters of Babylon, There we sat and we wept as we remembered Tzion.”As opposed to our personal experiences remembering by a body of water, this
psalm is a collective memory that preserves the profound sadness and anger of
the Israelite exiles post 586 BCE. The harsh ending of the psalm led to an
emotional discussion of art as a process of confronting sadness and anger in
our own lives.

Liba continued Meryll’s text lesson with an invitation to
the participants to write about memories of a specific body of water.One word of those memories was transferred to
paper to add to Camille Gage’s work, I am Water—an interactive public artwork that challenges viewers to consider
their relationship to the Earth’s water resources.All
contributed to the river ofimages and words begun in the previous lab which will be part of our
exhibit.

Sharon Zweigbaum's talk on public art gave many of us food for thought. I especially enjoyed Meryll Page's contemplation of public art as a vehicle in Russia for rewriting history. You can find her blog at Absurdist Sculpture-Russian Style.

About Me

Susan Weinberg researches, paints and writes about family, cultural and community history. Her family history interests and travel frequently inform her artwork.
Susan writes of her travel to ancestral towns throughout Eastern Europe and her artwork based on those communities.
Susan has exhibited her artwork nationally and internationally. Her most recent body of work is the Jewish Identity and Legacy project, a project which includes oral history and art creation. Based in Minneapolis-St Paul, Susan creates artwork and does genealogy consulting. She speaks frequently on her artwork and genealogy topics. She maintains two blogs, Layers of the Onion with a family history and art focus and Creative Connections on the Minneapolis Jewish Artists' Lab.